Last Woman on Earth (1960)

Powerful

How sad is this?

Expected more

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Great story, starts with a cock fight! Millionaire/Scammer in holiday with wife in Puerto Rico, his lawyer shows up with his annual indictment. The 3 go scuba diving, come back to the surface to find all life has died. The two men fight over the last woman. The husband kills the lawyer, and the husband and wife continue. Great stuff.Cinematography was great. Intro starts with a slow close roll of a photo of a woman. Music was great as well. Editing was great as well. The acting by Antony Carbone as Harold Gern/Husband was solid. Betsy Jones-Moreland as Evelyn Gern/Wife/Last Woman was also solid. Robert Towne as Martin Joyce/Lawyer, in simple terms was crap. He was also the screenwriter. Also, Betsy's acting was worse when Martin was on screen.This is a solid B movie. Very believable within the circumstance. The 3 after the scuba dive come back to the surface and realize they cannot breathe. They discover the ship captain dead. And they still have to use the scuba gear until they make it to the jungle, where plants are producing more oxygen. They realize that they may be the only people left on the island or on the planet. We have no further info on what happened. Which is fine. The movie is about the tension between the 3. The husband is in charge and plans for survival. The wife starts an affair with the lawyer. Husband and Lawyer get into a fight. He smashes the lawyer in the head with a rock, which he loses his eyesight later, and then dies. I like that. He didn't die right away, it was gradual. The husband wasn't wrong. He was a tough guy, but his intentions to survive were correct. Even though he wasn't the best husband, the lawyer taking advantage of the wife was wrong.This is not a perfect movie. But given the production value, cinematography, tight editing, music, acting on the most part and the screenplay. I saw this movie first time in 2016, and again last night. The cock fight in the beginning is appropriate. Not only is it a strong and disturbing sight, two animals fighting to the death, it fits the theme of course of the two men fighting for the last woman. The dialogue is strong on the most part. Towne's acting is crap, and it also hurt Jones-Moreland in their scenes. But the screenplay is solid. The scenes towards the end with the ruins was great. It looks like there may have been a scene that was cut before they head into the church. The delayed reaction to Martin's head trauma, of blindness and death was also great. Whether Harold or Martin is right here is not the point. Contemporary movies may have Martin killing Harold. So, it's a good twisted end.The church scene is also reenacted in Last Man on Earth, a great film. Also, the church scene is used in Scream Bloody Murder, another great film.B rating for a B movie, 7 stars. 10 stars given for balance for all the losers giving anything less than 5 stars. To those losers I will now recommend that they go watch Star Wars VII, The Farce Awakens, or the Last Intelligent Human.

Businessman Harold Gern , his wife Evelyn and friendly lawyer Martin Joyce meet at dinner one night in Puerto Rico and arrange a diving holiday . The next day after scuba diving they emerge on to their boat only to find the captain of the boat dead and the air around them to be oxygen thin . What has happened and are they the only survivors ? This is a B movie premise but what attracted my attention to it was the screenplay was written by Robert Towne . Woe betide anyone who has the temerity to suggest that Towne wasn't the greatest screenwriter in the history of cinema . One time during a university film class I suggested that William Goldman might have been the premier screenwriter of 1970s Hollywood and I just got away with it . Considering Town wrote CHINATOWN anyone suggesting he wasn't all that great will be burned at the cinematic stake as a heretic . The fact that art is entirely subjective and a matter of opinion doesn't come in to it . Everyone thinks Towne is the screen writing God and that's the end of it Despite this hyperboyle he also stars in this Roger Corman production so you've got the double whammy of seeing a film written and starring Towne even though he uses the screen name of Edward Wane . Watching LAST WOMAN ON EARTH you can understand perhaps why he decided to give up acting and become a screenwriter although you'd have no idea he'd one day be held in such high regard . The film has a very short running time which means the characters and situations are very underdeveloped and motivations either disappear or come out of nowhere . The 1980s New Zealand film THE QUIET EARTH which had an identical premise was far more effective in its themes Of course since it's a Roger Corman production Towne should be allowed an apology of sorts not only because its his debut screenplay . As mentioned the running time is too short to give the plot justice but it's fairly badly directed with too much static camera work , an annoying , intrusive and often inappropriate soundtrack but perhaps worst of all some badly realised cinematography . Honestly the cinematography changes scene from scene and you often think you're watching a movie shot in monochrome

If the first 20 minutes or so of this movie had been cut I'd have rated it even higher. Those first 20 minutes, which give us some of the background of the 3 main characters - a married couple (Harold and Evelyn Gern, played by Antony Carbone and Betsy Jones-Moreland) and Harold's lawyer (Martin, played by Robert Towne) - seem strangely disconnected from the rest of the movie. The background basically lets us know that the Gerns already have trouble in their marriage because Harold is obsessed with his business, which apparently he doesn't always run honestly - thus, the presence of his lawyer. But that 20 minutes could have been cut out - or at least cut down dramatically - and it wouldn't have negatively affected the rest of the movie, because it's only after that first 20 minutes that this becomes interesting. And at that point it is interesting.The three go off on a boat trip off the coast of Puerto Rico. Strapping on oxygen tanks, they go diving for less than an hour (because it's established that the tanks hold an hour's worth of oxygen) and when they come up - everyone's dead. The pilot of the boat, everyone in Puerto Rico, and apparently everyone in the world. Just dead. Something suddenly and briefly sucked all the oxygen out of the air and everyone asphyxiated. Just like that. There are three human beings left on the entire planet. Two men and one woman. You can guess where that's heading.Beyond that 20 minutes, I thought this was basically a good movie. The cause of the mass extinction is never explained beyond something taking the oxygen out of the air, but it really didn't have to be. That's just part of the mystery. Our three survivors didn't know what had happened. Why should we? I'm no authority on the work of Roger Corman, who directed this. I've seen a few of his movies. Some I've liked, some I haven't. This would certainly fall into the category of one that I liked. It's intriguing and it's generally well acted by the three leads. (7/10)

This movie seems rather bland of the surface, but if you know your history and economics. There is an underlying theme that isn't to hard to find. If you look you will find that Harold stands for Raw Capitalism and Martin stands for "Communism". It's a piece of MacArthur history that truly shows how the subject was treated in 1960. There are many parts in the movie that clearly show the hatred and dysfunction of communism and how much "better" capitalism is. If you do look for these themes they get more noticeable toward the end. The movie takes a while to develop and has bad acting and at time the audio sucks.It's an alright movie, the themes are the best part enjoy it. It's a classic so give it a chance. Rating 7/10